Justice for the Oak Ridge 3

On July 28, 2012, Sister Megan Rice, Greg Boertje-Obed and Michael Walli entered the nuclear weapons factory in Oak Ridge, Tennessee to draw international attention to the United States’ nuclear weapons program. The three members of Transform Now Plowshares were able to reach the center of the (supposedly) high-security site and sprinkle blood on a uranium storage site and take a hammer to the corner of one building.

They were arrested and initially charged with trespass and vandalism, as befits their crime. But officials at Oak Ridge were embarrassed by how easily the three reached such a critical component of the U.S. nuclear weapons infrastructure, and by the time of the trial in May 2013, those charges had morphed into much more serious crimes including “intention to interfere, injure or obstruct the national defense,” carrying sentences of up to 30 years.

It turns out that the facility shut down for two weeks after the civil disobedience to address the serious security lapse, and prosecutors blamed the shutdown on the activists. Attorneys for the three asked the Judge to drop the charge of interfering with national security, but in an October 1, 2013 decision, he refused. He did however, indicate that he is willing to consider the non-violent nature of their action during the sentencing.

The Restore Due Process Model Resolution that gives any city or town the opportunity to raise its voice in defense of due process and the right to trial. Join communities across the country mobilizing against indefinite and arbitrary military detention.